Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year by Harvey Norman nominee: Debbie Sage

Debbie Sage is an advocate for some of society’s most vulnerable people. Meet your latest Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year nominee.

Debbie Sage is an advocate for some of society’s most vulnerable people.

The senior lawyer at Attwood Marshall Lawyers is a voice for the voiceless pushing for reforms to help the elderly.

Debbie Sage Wills & Estates Senior Associate Lawyer & Accredited Aged Care Professional, Attwood Marshall Lawyers. Picture: Supplied

An accredited aged care professional, she is at the forefront of spearheading campaigns to introduce new state laws that criminalise elder abuse. And for that has been nominated in the ‘professionals’ category for this year’s Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year awards by Harvey Norman.

“I noticed especially through Covid there was quite a high rate of elder abuse,” Mrs Sage said.

“(During this period) the ACT had passed laws to specifically criminalise elder abuse so I watched them very carefully.”

Mrs Sage said she was so impressed with the laws enacted in 2021 to safeguard the vulnerable she started to advocate for Queensland and NSW to follow suit.

“I just tried to help people understand that while we already have criminal laws which deal with these areas vaguely we need specific offences, not only for the elderly, but for our most vulnerable who can be people who suffer disabilities.”

In February Mrs Sage met with the NSW attorney general Mark Speakman to express necessary legislative changes required to help prevent elder abuse.

In February, Debbie Sage, along with Attwood Marshall Lawyers colleagues Lucy McPherson and Michael Twohill, met with NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman at the office of Tweed MP Geoff Provest, to share their views and brainstorm solutions for local issues close to their hearts. Picture: Supplied

“NSW have been piloting an elder abuse pilot study down in the Hunter Valley region,” she said.

“They’ve got part of their legal aid team doing an elder abuse force where they’re acting for these clients and they’ve managed to recover millions. I said to Mark Speakman you need to roll this out across the state – you can see that the Commonwealth puts money into this you can see that this is working – so he’s been getting back to me every few months with updates.

“I am a Queenslander but I also work in our NSW office so I do both states of law and I just try and do whatever I can to protect our community in both states which is hard to juggle because the laws are very different.”

Mrs Sage won unanimous support at the 2023 Queensland LNP convention in July for proposing an urgent review into the legislation and structures regarding the exit fees charged by retirement villages. She is now in talks with Opposition housing spokesman Tim Mander to address flaws in the existing system in the hope to make active changes.

“We’ve had a lot of retirement villages close down especially as a result of Covid – these clients don’t realise they have to pay exit fees every time one closes down,” she said.

“They’ve got no choice to leave and find rentals and there are no rentals out there – we’re going through a rental housing crisis – and they can’t go into homes with pets either and if they can they can’t afford the buy-in rate.

Debbie Sage attending The Salvation Army Community Wills Day, hosted by Attwood Marshall Lawyers. Photo Credit: Loysh Photography

“It’s been a real issue of contention this year as retirement villages are state regulated and the Queensland laws aren’t very good – they need to be overhauled and reviewed quite heavily.

Nominations close on August 1 followed by a glittering awards night dinner to announce the winners on September 16 at Star Gold Coast. For more information or to nominate visit www.womenoftheyear.com.au

Originally published as Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year by Harvey Norman nominee: Debbie Sage